Jaimini Jethwa was born in Uganda but grew up in Dundee after her family fled the Idi Amin regime. The 32-year-old teaches film production as well as making shorts and documentaries, and she has written feature scripts. Her film, The Interview, was shot on digital video, and follows a young woman (Naomi Cabrelli, above) going for a job interview, where the questions propel her into thinking about her life choices. Jaimini spoke to us about how her background informs her work, what she's learnt in making the film, and how she feels about showing it to an audience for the first time.
About the film: "I wanted to make a short film that has this kind of truth in it. A lot of short films structure themselves around 'riddles' - people find a book in the street and [we find out] what happens with it... to do that in a short space of time is a structural challenge and I respect those films. But there's also the challenge of seeing something that's dramatic and truthful about a life, which I don't see a lot in short films. That's something I tried to do - put over a notion of someone’s actual experiences, but in a short film context. That's usually done much more in a feature film, and I still think it can be successful in 10 minutes."
On her background: "I wouldn't coin myself as an Asian woman director, but of course I have a strong Asian, Scottish quality to my writing... and that's the passion that drives making these films - to get these stories out. So that’s the main impetus for me to carry on working in this field - to give people a voice, to present things to audiences that are never really touched on. I don't think we do have a voice in media and film, that's given us a feeling of "yeah, that does express some of the experiences I have in my life". I don't think anyone touches on the fact that not all Asians open corner shops, or go and do a degree in medicine and then get married. A lot of people have tried very hard and have struggled with mental health issues, identity issues, lots of these things. So that's been a really important facet of doing the film for me. I feel getting the variety [of experiences] out there is really crucial."
On screening in Edinburgh: "I am really looking forward to getting an audience's reaction to the film. [The point of] making films is for audiences ultimately [and] that's going to be a really interesting process. But I'm not thinking, "Oh I've got a film there and I think I'm great". I don't feel that way. I feel quite humble and glad that I've had the opportunity. I just want to remain hard working and see how the audience takes it. It's a brilliant opportunity but there's a long way to go yet."
On what she's learnt from making The Interview: "It's been a really brilliant learning curve for me... I had a professional editor for part of the time coming in and supervising, that was really amazing, spending time with the professionals and learning from people... It's been a lot of hard work, but I feel I've put in as much work as I possibly could have, so that's a good feeling. It's something for people to be aware of when they embark on these short films, it takes up a lot of time and everything else in your life has to stop completely.
****************************************************The Interview was made through the Cineworks scheme, a Glasgow Media Access Centre (GMAC) and Mediabase Edinburgh initiative, funded by Scottish Screen, The Film Council and BBC Scotland.
